Story Park, Alhambra Room

Written by GCE coordinator, Carol…

On May 27, 2017 (exactly 1 year from her birth), we celebrated my daughter Charlize’s 1st birthday at Story Park in Alhambra, California. As many of you know, a baby's first birthday (“dohl” in Korean culture) is often celebrated with elaborate planning and detail. To be honest, my husband and I contemplated whether to have a 1st birthday party or not. In the end, we decided to do one, but not as elaborate. Instead, we decided to put aside the money saved for her future. As an event coordinator, there is a sense of pressure to create the most extravagant event for personal events, but I want to share through this post that you can still have a beautiful and special event with a smaller budget.

First of all, I chose a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star theme because Charlize (aka Charlie) has truly been the bright and shining star of our lives. Ever since her birth, she has always been smiling and making those around her smile, so I thought the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star theme suited her perfectly. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to utilize lights and shiny things - which I always wanted to do.

One way to save on costs is with flowers. Utilizing simple bud vases is a great way to keep your head table clean while still implementing the beauty of flowers. You don't have to have huge elaborate floral arrangements to achieve a beautiful table. In fact, I've learned that large floral arrangements are a bit dated. Instead, go for a refreshingly clean and simple look with bud vases! I also chose to use silk faux flowers instead of real flowers because they last forever and can be reused. I, of course, got an array of peonies and roses to satisfy my love for those flowers.

Pretty desserts make such a big difference in how your head table will look. I was fortunate to be able to work with two very talented bakers: Hannah Chang and Caroline Youm Lee from Pretty Little Sweets LA. Not only were they beautiful, they were all so delicious. I love how both of them implemented gold into the desserts. A few tips when ordering desserts: (1) You don't have to order enough for every single guest. Not everyone eats dessert. 50-75% of your guest count is good number unless you don't mind having lots of leftover desserts.

Our biggest cost saver was choosing a community center in our neighborhood instead of a restaurant. We went with Story Park and utilized their Alhambra Room because it was able to accommodate our 160 guest list. The wonderful thing about a community center is that its a clean slate for you to work your magic. They are usually clean and pretty bare, so you can implement any theme you want. The bad thing about it is that you have quite a bit of work to make that happen. While they provide tables and chairs, you have to bring everything else in.

I chose to keep the clean look by doing white table cloths. I also chose to add a bit of elegance by using gold charger plates, linen napkins, and matching gold cutlery. Aside from the gold chargers, the white plates and gold cutlery are disposable plastic ware. You would be surprised how real and nice they appear. GCE co-coordinator, Audrey, told me once that there is something "special and unexpected" about infusing fancy elements like gold cutlery in a plain unassuming environment, and that's exactly what this table setup did.

To go along with our Twinkle Twinkle Little Star theme, the centerpieces were put together by my mother and me. We used silk faux flowers for this as well. The arrangement consisted of roses, ranunculus, succulents and flocked greenery. I used mason jars for the base and added battery operated fairly lights that can be turned on & off with a switch. Guests were able to take these to enjoy the twinkly arrangement at home (since the flowers are fake and the lights can be turned on & off).

For the entrance, I designed a 20x30 Welcome board. I also designed a 20x30 board with pictures of her every month. Each month was backed with gold glitter cardstock and each number of the month (along with a star) was cut and mounted to each picture.

The Welcome Table is another place where you can add various elements to coordinate with your theme. Guests were asked to "write a wish" in a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star book, which Charlie will be able to cherish forever.

The doljabi is a Korean traditional activity where objects representing various things are placed in front of the one-year-old. Whatever object the child chooses represents their future. This is a fun activity because guests were asked to guess what they think Charlie will choose. The winner received a cash prize. Every parent chooses different objects. Charlie's doljabi items consisted of all objects pertaining to her future career:

Charlie's Korean dress (hanbok) was bought straight from Korea while a close friend was vacationing there. Charlie is half Chinese and half Korean, so its nice when she she gets to embrace both cultures. For Chinese New Year, she wore a Chinese dress (qipao) and for her 1st birthday she got to wear this hanbok.

Food is very important, whether you have your event at a restaurant or you cater it to your venue. Your guests may not remember the gold charger plates, but they will remember the food. Food was especially important to us so we went to three different places for the food. Since we had some Korean elements to the party, we chose to cater Chinese food. Everything was delicious and a lot of people complimented the food.

Another tip I will add is to never go cheap on a photographer. Not only do you want to capture the special event, its a great chance to get in some family photos. As you can see, Charlie and I wore matching dresses. Last year, my husband got the set for my birthday present when Charlie was just a little over 1 month old. I am now pregnant with our second child, but thankfully the dress fit me perfectly.

All in all, it was a perfect 1st birthday for our little shining star.

One Last Tip: Always use a big candle for the cake, like the candlestick pictured above. Even if it seems ridiculously big at the time, they are best for pictures and easy for the baby to look at/blow.